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Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Over the weekend I got the kit I won in the Virtual Stitches stash sale. Here it is with my copy of Estense Embroidery by Elisabeth Holzer Spinelli. For a review of the book you can check out Mary Corbet's website.

I bought the kit from Jeanine Robertson, who in turn got it from the author of the book.

Some of the steps were already started as you can see in the picture below. I'll have to carefully read the instructions before I start working on it.

I can't wait to start. Hopefully very soon. I need to at least finish one WIP from my list first.

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Last week's section for SAL Dentelles was much bigger. It is very frilly and "vintage" with two borders of flowers covered by lace.

The first border I covered with a woven lattice stitch. An idea I borrowed from Mrs Milkybar Kid (click on the link to see her version). For the bottom border I decided to stitch all the vertical stitches first. I almost stopped at this point because it looks pretty on it's own, but I went ahead and covered it with the filet lace. I did this by passing the thread beneath the vertical stitches instead of into the fabric.

We're nearing the end of the SAL, with 2 parts left to go. This means that very soon I'll be able to stitch more on my other WIPs :)

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

This month's TUSAL is obscured by the threads from my baby Groot, but you can still see the threads from Dentelles and Tree of Hope. You can't really see the ones from my Hardanger project since they're so small. I use up those threads till the last bit.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

I do have to admit one thing: I bought more stash (tsk, tsk). Virtual Stitches (the EAC chapter I belong to) was having a stash sale where members put up things for sale that they didn't want anymore. I wasn't going to buy, honest! But I saw an Estense Embroidery kit that I just had to have. I already own the book and I figure this is a good way to start this type of embroidery.

Monday, February 9, 2015

I'm sensing a trend for this SAL. I didn't start part 5 until Friday (I was too happy stitching Tree of Hope) and rushed to finish it Saturday night.

I think this can be considered the center of the piece, since there are 4 bands left. Part 5 was smaller than the previous one and only contained cross stitches, but I decided that I wanted to include some perle cotton. So I looked online for specialty stitches that looked like hearts to replace the cross stitched one. I remembered seeing something on a blog that would work. Luckily, there were some diagrams online that I was able to use (I still had to redo it three times before I got the count right).

In the empty space on either side of the heart I decided to backstitch my initials and I whipped stitched them to give them a curve. I learned this technique at the Creative Festival last year and was happy to have it in my stitching arsenal :)

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

This month's topic: How do you overcome that feeling that you’re in a rut with a particular project? So far, I've been coping with it by always having multiple WIPs and I try to have them be as different from each other as possible. That way if I'm bored of one or am unable to stitch on it, I can switch to a different one. I also have projects that can be only stitched at my desk and others that can be stitched anywhere. Sometimes a change in stitching location also helps with getting over feeling "in a rut".

I think I picked too many WIPs for WIPocalypse, because I only worked on three of the projects.

No Update

Ink Cirlces - The Bramble and the Rose

Mirabilia - Tree of Hope

No Update

Teresa Wentzler - Tracery Dragons

Satin Stitches - Donna's Fantasy Lace

Brodeuse Bressane - SAL Dentelles

No Update

Gingerbread Girl - Gelati al Cioccolato

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Karen Dudzinski - Pulled Thread Miniature Ornate Carpet

Now I wish I can say that next WIPocalypse I will have worked on my other WIPs, but I'm not sure that's going to happen. I'm having too much fun stitching on Tree of Hope and Donna's Fantasy Lace, and SAL Dentelles is almost done so I can't stop now.

Monday, February 2, 2015

I started part 4 a little later than I should and it was quite a rush to get it done in time. This section is a little bigger than the rest, but I guess I got into the rhythm of it. Once I figure out the sequence I want to use to stitch it, it went pretty fast.

Last week I also got the rest of the Colour Complements threads I ordered. They came with more lovely complementary threads. I really love the purple one.

While we're on stash purchases I must confess to having made another acquisition. I couldn't help myself, they were having a January sale. It's a stitcher's necessaire. The pictures are from Carpacar's blog, there are more at this link.

Between the threads and the pattern, I have maybe 15$ to spend for February. Not a very good start I know. And today I found out that Ajisai Press is also having a nice discount for the month of February, check out Cross Stitch Review for details. I've had my eye on a few of their patterns. I'll have to think hard before I spend what's left of my budget.